There's a little *hole in the wall* kind of place in Toronto called TO Wings. They sell Broasted Chicken. I've gone in when the owner was there, and he showed me the labels, and even called his supplier about one of the foods. They don't serve any breads (which is my biggest fear in a restaurant). They do have both a peanut and a sesame sauce (my two allergies) but they are poured into little sealed containers, and none of the food is cooked in it or comes into contact with it.

I only eat there about twice a year. Everything else either comes out of my kitchen or my cooler.

Also are they going to list if the meal you are ordering may have come into contact with an allergen?... E.g. - Are the egg free chicken strips (I wish) deep fried in the same oil as the NOT egg free Fish strips? Or the same pot or pan was used to cook. Not a lot of people/restaurants are aware of cross contamination. A friend of mine actually thought if it was deep fried or cooked really well it would "kill' any allergens in the oil or frying pan or pot.
I really like the Old Spaghetti Factory for that. The ones we've been to have been really careful. They send out the manager to talk over the allergy with you and he checks what you're ordering and then they use brand new pots and pans to make it. Very nice and reassuring.
Robin

Restaurants scare me! I was reading abook about food allergies on the bus a while back and ended up speaking to a chef. She tod me that they regularly use the same pot of simmering water to poach shrimp and warm pasta. She was shocked to think that someone could order a menu item and then have an anaphylaxic reactioin.
Listing ingredients is a start but we stil need to ask a ot of questions about preparation and cross contamination.
Has anyone heard of Allergy Awareness? The restaurant federation was supposed to have created this but I have asked for a list of restaurants in my community who are invoved and have never recieved it.

AnnaMarie, my apologies for the slowest reply ever given! I did get a response to your question from the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Assoc. You’d asked whether, under the new CRFA program in which participating restaurants agree to list ingredients on brochures and websites, these restaurants will list “may contains”. Here’s the detailed answer…

Joyce Reynolds, the senior VP of government affairs, says it will depend on the restaurant chain as the CFRA did not specify how the establishments had to list allergens. (The program is mainly about listing nutrient content on brochures and websites – ie. calorie, fat, carb./cholesterol content – but the restaurants will also be showing key allergens). Joyce notes, however, that if there is any chance of cross-contamination, a big chain is not likely to risk making the declaration that they are free of a particular allergen. So while you’ll still want to ask about may-contains, there’s a good chance that the co. involved has considered this.

Thought I’d mention a couple of other things she said:
1) 26 restaurant chains have now signed up for the program (up from the 24 we mentioned in the Newsflash item), which won’t go fully into effect until the end of 2005.
2) Only one big company (she didn’t name) refused to sign on to the program if it “required” including lengthy allergen information on their in-store brochures.
3) A lot of the restaurants are putting details about allergens on their websites and providing 1-800 numbers there so that you can call an expert instead of simply speaking to a counter person.

When I reminded Joyce that restaurants are difficult terrain for those with allergies, she offered: “If you go into a quick-service restaurant where they have standardized menu concepts and menu items and recipes and suppliers and portion controls, they’re able to provide information on the allergen content in their menu items. When you go into a smaller restaurant operator, it’s much more difficult for them to do that. They don’t have the standardized recipes, they don’t have the standardized suppliers, and they won’t know whether one of the many ingredients that went into the production of a product has the exact same ingredients as the one they prepared the week before. So it’s much harder for a smaller restaurant to definitively say ‘these are the allergens that are in our products,’ but they can say ‘tell me what your allergen is, and then we can custom make an item so that we can guarantee that that item isn’t there.’ And that’s the best course of action when you eat out in a smaller restaurant.”

I think that it's great that they are doing this. Really anything is helpful.
I am leary however, of eating anywhere that I can't watch them prepare my food. How do I know that the person making a cheese sub for the customer before me is going to change their latex gloves before making mine? It's great that I know what goes into the bread but what was just cut on that cutting board? I am afraid that the CRFA may have done away with the Allergy Awareness program as I am not abe to find anything on the site lately.
It's not just about educating the consumer about the food ingredients. It's about educating the restaurant staff so that we may eat there.
Sorry for the rant.

Gwen, thank you very much for your time, I do appreciate it. In this case, I think it means I won't spend the next year looking forward to being able to eat in restaurants and then end up disappointed. It doesn't sound like it's going to make any big difference in my safety.

I definitely do agree with what Joyce said regarding the differences between big chains and small restaurants. (Or even big restaurants that are not a chain.)

I'm with Susan. What did they cut on that cutting board? In my home, if I cut buns on a cutting board, I might just bang the crumbs off it (into the sink) and then cut cheese or something on it. But, I can't risk that being done with bread I'm allergic to.

But, if this will help other people (with different allergies or less paranoia then me), then I still think it's great.[/i]

Has anyone heard of Allergy Awareness? The restaurant federation was supposed to have created this but I have asked for a list of restaurants in my community who are invoved and have never recieved it.

When my son was first diagnosed with his peanut allergy I sent off an e-mail to the CRFA asking for a similar list of restaurants who were involved in the Allergy Aware Program and received this response on November 23, 2004.

Quote:

CRFA no longer administers the Allergy Aware Program because of concerns that it is not in the best interests of our members, the public, or the CRFA. It proved to be impossible for us to police the participating restaurants to ensure that they were following the guidelines. I'm sure that as a parent of an allergic child yourself, you understand how this inability to ensure the integrity of the program created situations that could be potentially dangerous to allergic consumers. As a result, we have terminated the program and purged our lists of participating restaurants.

We do, however, continue to encourage our members to be allergy aware, and offer them print, electronic and video resources to further this end. We also offer our Food Allergies and the Food Service Industry pamphlet free on our website. You can find the pamphlet here: http://crfa.ca/research_foodallergies.shtml

At present, we tell allergic consumers that if they are eating out, they should call the establishment ahead of time and explain their concerns to a manager, and then reiterate the problem when they arrive at the restaurant.

Thank you for your inquiry. I hope this information proves somewhat helpful.

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